Welcome to "Dust, Tears & Dice", a blog dedicated to the hobby of miniature wargaming.
If you fancy gaming periods off the beaten track then this is the place for you.
I am a regular member of The Wyvern Wargamers, formerly The Evesham Wargames Club drawing gamers from Worcester, Redditch, Kidderminster, Cheltenham and Stratford.
All players welcome.

Hordes Of The Things Version 2.1 is one of those fast-play heroic fantasy wargame rule sets based on classical fantasy
fiction, any figure sizes can be used from 6mm to 28mm.

They
allow gamers to reproduce any fantasy army inspired
by films, books or TV series, for me it was Narnia series, but more on that later.

The rules have lasted the test of time and I have spent many an evening fighting over a 4ft battlefield on a long running fantasy campaign, it's great to see them back and updated.

They are swift to play a game should be comfortably finished in 60 minutes.

Typically armies consist of only 12 elements with between 1-8 figures per base depending on the troops you select. The rules are simply in design, but many a time I have been undone due to lack of tactics and deployment.

So what’s new in version 2.1?

• Improved movements for Warbands and Shooters.
• It offers an option to try base width movements used in DBA 3.0
• A4 size and larger text with wider spacing, which makes it easier to read.

Saturday, March 08, 2014

Each player represents a squad from the 24th Mobile Infantry "The
Wyverns". You have been recruited following Sky Marshals Dienes request
for volunteers to combat the Arachnid treat.

The
campaign begins in orbit around Alpha Fennell one of the outer
colonies, SICON has identified a concentration of Arachinds, Fleet
Orbital bombardments has degraded the bug prescence and it's now time to
put boots on the ground and wipe the bugs off the planet.

MI
your orders are to kill anything that has more than 2 legs, push
further forward clearing the landing zone to create a perimater and destroying bug central at the far end of the table.

5 Players step forward to clear the beachhead, The Wyvern Warriors and Deacon's Destroyers take the high ground over looking the battlefield as other elements push through the centre.

Sensors pick up movement to the front of the MI, the sneaky bugs are attempting to tunnel beneath the advancing squads, a couple of well placed rocket rounds are enough to collapse a number of the tunnels, so far so good and no bugs in sight.

The MI press on, Baldwin's Bastards - Fleet Landing party take the right flank whilst, Nico's Roughnecks the right and the Luck Devils push straight down the centre supported by Deacon's Destroyers, the first bugs appear on the table rushing towards the advancing MI.

BB's secure the high ground, which prompts an immediate bug response with a bug hole breaking to the right and fliers enter the table sweeping down on the Fleet landing party.

It becomes a shooting gallery as all players light up the bugs looking to amass points.....

The Lucky Devils poor fire into the recently discovered bug hole and send a Marauder unit to support Baldwin's Bastards who between them make short work of several waves of bugs.

Things are really hotting up now, a second bug hole opens up, with the Arachnid ace card - A Tanker Bug !!!!! But a poor initiative throw gives the MI the drop, players rush forward eager to seek the prize of 250 points for downing the beast, Deacon's Destroyers inflect several hits on it's harden shell before the Lucky Devils inflict the final blow, the Marauder Unit sriking home with several rockets.

Meanwhile in the rear Cliff Mites rush out of the rock formations only to be beaten back by rifle fire and flame throwers, giving the Wyvern Warriors some valuable points as Deacon's Destroyers clen up the rest to add to their tally.

Meanwhile Nick's Roughnecks advance steadily down the table, destroying several waves of bugs and beating off several Hopper attacks. There Rep 5 Pathfinder status being the difference in a number of tight encounters.

As the mission draws to a close, Baldwin's Bastards have lost a number of troopers and are dragging their fallen comrades from the front line, Nick's Roughnecks creast the hill but are out of grenade range to destroy bug central, which gives an opportunity for the Lucky Devils to seal the hole and bring the game to a close.

A great first encounter with others players signing up to get in on the action.

The bug's suffered from a number of poor initiative rolls, which gave them MI the drop on them on several turns, two random holes appeared but when the location was tested for they were both off table.

Let's see how the MI get on when Mission 2 is rolled out - "Expand the Perimeter"

The problem with many campaigns is you end up waiting whilst one player
becomes available to play a minor engagement, meanwhile the initial enthusiasm
of others soon wains whilst waiting for a game that involves them. I must have started several over the years with very few reaching a conclusion unless all involved are fully committed.

So with that in mind I thought I would try something a little different for the latest Wyvern Wargamers - Starship Troopers Campaign allowing players to come and go as they see fit, but with the outcome of each scenario influencing the next type of mission, victory will reward players with an offensive mission, defeat and MI start to have to defend.

On the first game each player starts with a base of 200 points, but may add to that total from the troops I have painted to date, in the full knowledge that the more assets they purchase, the greater the number of bugs they will face, I created a web page so each player can see just what is available, which is found on this blog, which will also detail the scores and missions under taken so far.

After each mission each player is rewarded with additional points for kills inflicted, but penalised for any losses, the player starting with the most points is the CinC on the day and takes the lead in terms of mission strategy.

The player with the most points at the end of the campaign is crowned - Sky Marshall

If all goes to plan, players can join in or drop out in the full knowledge that they will always have the points they have amassed so far. In theory the games may involve on one or two players with a small number of points or several players where it becomes a serious encounter.

Each player represents a squad from the 24th Mobile Infantry "The
Wyverns". You have been recruited following Sky Marshals Dienes request
for volunteers to combat the Arachnid treat.

Sunday night saw 5 squads take to the field with victory going to the "Lucky devils" who take an early lead with just under 600 points to show for their efforts.... Full AAR to follow.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

So much for just using up stuff stored in boxes from projects that I never quite got around to finishing....

With my self imposed 3 month deadline about to expire for the Starship Trooper Project, I thought I woud take the opportunity of a few more packs from 1st Corps, from their Colonial Troopers range.

I figured that these recon troopers would be suitable to represent a Mobile Infantry Pathfinder section. Trained and equiped to be the elite of the Mobile Infantry, they are
often tasked with ranging ahead of the landing zones to reconnoitre
enemy dispositions.

Under the campaign rules there are 8 men in the section, each armed with the Morita assault rifle, Frag Grenades they lack a support weapon like their regular counterparts but are a Rep 5 rather than the regulars Rep 4.

MI are issued with a helmet mounted comm link, which allows squad
members to communicate the length of the table if in LOS or 24" if not.

One Trooper can be upgraded to a medic at the cost of 15 pts.

Each trooper can be upgraded to the M-1A4 Power Suit at a cost of 20 pts each (classing the troopers as protected.)

Sergeant has the ability to call in off table air support ot artillery if
purchased as a support asset.

One man, One grenade and a whole bunch of bugs.
Anytime
a figure finds himself alone and no friends within 6" and in sight he
can choose to use a grenade on himself and the attacking bugs, instead
of testing on the being charged table use the Game Over Man Test.

With 5 Infantry sections now complete, It was high time I added an addtional Field Headquarters, to give the MI a little more flexability, it also allowed me to use up the last of the spares.

Field Headquarters is made up of a Lieutenant, his Radio Operator and a Sniper.

Type

Rep

Move

Close Combat

Armour

Cost

No.

Equipment

Lieutenant

Sniper

Radio

Operator

5

5

5

8”

8"

8"

2xD6

2xD6

2xD6

None

None

None

75

55

30

1

1

1

Morita assault rifles, each equiped with a M902F Frag Grenade.

MI are issued with a helmet mounted comm link, which allows squad
members to communicate the length of the table if in LOS or 24" if not.

Each trooper can be upgraded to the M-1A4 Power Suit at a cost of 20 pts each (classing the troopers as protected.)

RO has the ability to call in off table air support ot artillery if
purchased as a support asset under orders from the Lieutenant or high ranking officer.

One man, One grenade and a whole bunch of bugs.
Anytime
a figure finds himself alone and no friends within 6" and in sight he
can choose to use a grenade on himself and the attacking bugs, instead
of testing on the being charged table use the Game Over Man Test.

Sunday night at the Wyvern Wargames club is the offical launch night with at least 6 players looking to kill bugs and become citizen's stay tuned if you would like to know more.